Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

We have so much work to do!! If we are to teach and expose our children to recognizing and using their gift for discernment of “Truth”, we must let them witness us using our gift and finding the truth to all factors of the human experience.  We have to be the safeguards of our democracy and the quality of life we want for our children! We must speak truth to Justice!  We must show children in our engagement with them that we value “their truth” and “telling the truth”.  There are so many opportunities to model and to have conversations with children about being an agent of truth. They test the waters of what is and is not truthful in their interactions with us as their parents, siblings, and playmates.  Because so many of us are out of are either out of touch with what children think or how children process their “truth”, we are quick to say they are lying.  I can’t stand when an adult calls a young child out as a liar!!  Children are not adults with life experiences that taint and manipulate their conceptions and perceptions so that they have a need to alter or re-create what is “Truth”!  So much of what children are steeped into is fantasy and their imagination.  They see things differently to us.  Initially they process their “truth” into fabulous stories that at the time is “their truth”!  I never approach children thinking they are liars, instead I simply ask them if what they are saying to me is their “Truth in their heart” or a “story in their mind”. 

If children are met with shame and judgment, they most likely will operate from a place of fear and anxiety. I try to develop a relationship built on trust and compassion so that they feel comfortable telling me if what they said was “their truth” or a “creative “story.  Sometimes it is difficult for them to tell the difference.  It is a process of working through their interpretation of what is truthful and what is created in their minds eye.  It takes a lot of cognitive and emotional maturity to be able to not have to create the truth, but to be the truth.  We, in the way in which we approach and engage with our children, will determine how they evolve into truthful beings. 

I strongly suggest that we step back into the memory of our own childhood and remember the feelings and sensations we experienced as we forged ourselves out of our world of creative licensing in sharing our stories and discerning the truth.  It’s a very big step and process for young children.